This really made me think…I work in my local town, and could get home within 5 minutes, but would have to get the grandson from school (kindergartener)…either my place of work, or his school, would be better protection in this type of situation than my home (both large brick structures, with good sheltering areas, as opposed to my small stick built home with no real good sheltering area–no basement). But all our supplies are at home. DH works in the major city, at least 30 minutes away on a good day…We sure can’t expect any ‘event’ to happen conveniently for us…

In the next decade Howard Ruff warned about socio-economic collapse in his 1974 book Famine and Survival in America. Ruff's book was published during a period of rampant inflation in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis. Most of the elements of survivalism can be found there, including advice on food storage. The book championed the claim that precious metals, such as gold and silver, have an intrinsic worth that makes them more usable in the event of a socioeconomic collapse than fiat currency. Ruff later published milder variations of the same themes, such as How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years, a best-seller in 1979.

Here’s an idea that is very useful. I found at the dollar store some space bags. I used one per person and filled it with winter gear, a multi tool, matches/lighter, a small solar light, a bit of emergency food, an emergency blanket, some basic first aid supplies, etc., then removed the air. If you pack it right, you will be able to fold it over and (I used a bungee cord) place over a strap for easy carry. Now you have an instant (and weather proof) instant kit. I also did this with a pillow (small personal one), blanket, sheet, towel, etc. Not only are they portable and protected, they store in less space.

When I got into bed that night, I noticed I was feeling a little off. Though I’d technically consumed enough calories, my stomach was still gnawing with hunger, and when I woke up the next morning, I felt energyless. I phoned Dr. Lisa Young, a New York–based nutritionist and adjunct professor at NYU, with a question: Is it really possible to live off freeze-dried food?

Many books were published in the wake of the Great Recession from 2008 and later offering survival advice for various potential disasters, ranging from an energy shortage and crash to nuclear or biological terrorism. In addition to the 1970s-era books, blogs and Internet forums are popular ways of disseminating survivalism information. Online survival websites and blogs discuss survival vehicles, survival retreats, emerging threats, and list survivalist groups.

I’ve taken the better part of a week to read this, something always comes up, so forgive me if I missed something or forgot. If you are in the city, food is an excellent investment but in the rural parts, a second best investment. Fact is, nobody can store enough, long enough should upheaval come to term. I think though we can skip the Mad Max scenario, there will always be laws. Seeds is what I think could be the best investment, but only if you know how to grow them to fruits. One can have a continuous amount of food, and do it without everybody at the grocery store of delivery business knowing it. Reading a book or watching TV is not knowing how to grow stuff, it’s watching them grow stuff. Knowledge is by studying but wisdom is the thing you need, and get, just after you needed it.
Without water, you won’t survive for long. If the circumstances are perfect, meaning the weather is temperate, and you aren’t active, your timeline for survival without water is likely only as much as a week. But more likely, it is three days maximum. And in no way should one expect a significant catastrophe to leave you behind in a perfect scenario.
Most of us have some sort of toolkit around the house, but if you want to be prepared you need to make sure it’s ready for anything. At a minimum you’ll need a good carpenter’s hammer, a heavier ball peen hammer, wood saw and hacksaw. Other essentials include a monkey wrench, measuring tape, square and level. Cordless drills are great, but a hand drill is also good to have – what if your generator goes and you need to fabricate a replacement part? A set of good screwdrivers is also vital – don’t rely on an electric one. Make sure you have wrenches to fit all bolts on your vehicles and equipment, too.

Sticking around when there is at least a 50% chance of a disaster occurring (hurricane, flood, landslides, tsunami, wildfire) is just plain silly. Part of your planning should be to determine the trigger point for evacuation as well as identification of an evacuation site and a route to get there. Better yet, plan multiple alternate routes as well.

No matter what side of shelter door you're on, you can't deny that the elaborate lengths that some people go to to prepare their doomsday shelters and supplies is absolutely compelling. Some shelters are historical, and built by governments during times of war. Others are the creation of individuals who just want to play it safe. Here, we've compiled a series of photos of some of the most souped-up, strong-walled, fully-stocked emergency shelters in the world - Charlie Hall's doomsday shelter is probably nicer than your apartment.

I found the buckets at Wal Mart on an end cap. They are near the hardware and paint sections. You may also check the online Wal Mart. I am not sure if they have them there, but I was told that they will order things and have it sent to the store for pick up. Worth checking out. I have been buying a couple of buckets every few weeks… and my store of buckets is increasing.
For younger folk panicked by Trump, best they read books now out about him; a few written by actual conservatives and by persons who actually have known him for 40 or 50 years. (Not any scribbled by a CNN cretin.) Conservative authors will be critical due more-material reasons, while leftists will merely be screaming their visceral fears, rage, and hate.
In 2014 there was a major outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in West Africa. This was far larger than all earlier outbreaks combined, because people are getting more mobile and the disease reached larger towns and cities. Horrifyingly, it also managed to reach out across the Atlantic and infect four people in the USA. We were lucky; all the cases were caught before they could spread further. We might not be lucky next time – and the virus is still out there in Africa. All it takes is one sick person to get on a plane and we could be facing a major epidemic.
These individuals study End Times prophecy and believe that one of various scenarios might occur in their lifetime. While some Christians (and even people of other religions) believe that the Rapture will follow a period of Tribulation, others believe that the Rapture is imminent and will precede the Tribulation ("Pre-Trib Rapture[41] "). There is a wide range of beliefs and attitudes in this group. They run the gamut from pacifist to armed camp, and from having no food stockpiles (leaving their sustenance up to God's providence) to storing decades' worth of food.
Additionally, some people may want to prioritize skills over supplies, the idea being if you have the skills you can make or find everything else. I will not derail the discussion by delving too far into that, but the fact is having what you need on hand will always save you labor and time. A truly skilled individual can sustain themselves with rudimentary or even no tools in very austere conditions, and there is no substitute for that kind of mastery, but no “lone survivor” who is honest would choose to go without provision or tools when the chips are down and they had a choice.
Firearms instructor and survivalist Colonel Jeff Cooper wrote on hardening retreats against small arms fire. In an article titled "Notes on Tactical Residential Architecture" in Issue #30 of P.S. Letter (April, 1982), Cooper suggested using the "Vauban Principle", whereby projecting bastion corners would prevent miscreants from being able to approach a retreat's exterior walls in any blind spots. Corners with this simplified implementation of a Vauban Star are now called "Cooper Corners" by James Wesley Rawles, in honor of Jeff Cooper.[7] Depending on the size of the group needing shelter, design elements of traditional European castle architecture, as well as Chinese Fujian Tulou and Mexican walled courtyard houses have been suggested for survival retreats.
Much of what has been said I agree with. What I do take exception is that many think that an EMP Pulse at this point in time would be somehow less devastating then a nuclear attack. A Nuclear attack kills rapidly initially and then other problems would cause a die off. An EMP Blast would not kill masses but it would be equally devastating as all infrastructure fails and mass starvation, lack of resources would have the same effect. Read the Book 1 Second After and it illustrates how bad things could really be. I am not minimizing the devastation of a Nuclear Bomb. I am pointing out that the impact woult probably be close to the same.

This could include things like researching a specific piece of gear to buy to figure out whether it’d be a good investment, or researching the ideal plants for an indoor herb garden. Of course, you can group these in with your prepper to-do list, but separating them out may help you get them done quicker – especially since they can all be done with computer access and thus be done while you’re couch potato prepping, i.e. prepping without leaving your sofa.

I rotate my storage a lot and used it last year when my husband was laid off. What I found is that I prefer smaller cans because I usually don’t need larger sizes. We have three kids left at home at this point. We still only cook for 5 people, one meal at a time and if you are in a situation where you don’t have refrigeration you may not want to have to store the large can leftovers.
Per #17: Consider 25 pounds of sugar, even if like me, you don’t use it; it can become like money because so many have a sweet tooth for it. Next: at least the same amount of salt. (I buy sea salt for the iodine within and it’s a mineral all animals need in their diets so it too, can be used like $$. Third: black peppercorns, in past history this was used as money everywhere along the spice routes. Why? Because they have a very very long shelf life without losing potency. Then buy a pepper grinder, coffee/spice grinder and/or a mortar and pestle.
Great list 🙂 The only thing I would suggest to add would be applied knowledge- for example there is no point in having seeds if you don’t know how to grow what you’ve got. Even if you don’t have access to land or a garden atm try growing crops in pots. Learn about the different soil and nutrient requirements for your selected plants, how to make fertlisers etc. If you are collecting tools know what to do with them, if you have info on foraging apply it now or go on foraging walks with local groups. Whatever skills you think… Read more »
Earlier this year the hands of the Doomsday Clock moved to two minutes to midnight, as atomic scientists announced that the world is closer to annihilation than it has been in decades. Is it any wonder then that the worldwide phenomenon of prepping, in all its camouflaged, gun-toting, canned-food-hoarding glory, is spreading as global anxiety about everything from thermonuclear war to climate change takes hold.

As you read though this list, I hope you can visualize the number and variety of meals that can be made by mixing and matching the items listed in the kick-start plan. How about some rice, salsa and canned chicken cooked into a casserole in your cast iron skillet? Or pancakes topped with canned peaches and honey? Then there are pinto beans, combined with rice and corn and topped with a bit of Tabasco for a fiesta-style meal.

Some evangelical Christians hold to an interpretation of Bible prophecy known as the post-tribulation rapture, in which the world will have to go through a seven-year period of war and global dictatorship known as the "Great Tribulation". Jim McKeever helped popularize survival preparations among this branch of evangelical Christians with his 1978 book Christians Will Go Through the Tribulation, and How To Prepare For It.

4. Weather Radios ($35 – $80, alerts are free) or Weather Warning Apps (free) – Weather radios have channels to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA provide coverage to government-designated weather channels 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Weather radios can be programmed to beep loudly when extreme weather is expected. They can report on multiple counties or just one county. There are also multiple options for the sound alert. Internet and cell service might be interrupted during extreme weather so a battery operated weather radio is a great option. Click here to learn more about how to get weather warnings from a radio.

Water ionizers are appliances attached to kitchen faucets. These appliances produce ionized water by treating regular tap water with minerals and electric current. Ionized water is alkaline or low pH water which consists of a large amount of electrically charged hydroxyl ions. What is alkaline water? Alkaline is highly effective in maintaining body pH level. […]

Speaking of making mistakes here’s one of mine. One of the first things I ‘put back’ (as my Mom use to say in the fall before my Dad was out of work due to bad weather at the quarry), was a couple of extra bottles of vegetable oil. Well, other stuff got in front of them on the shelf and pretty soon they were 3 or 4 years old. Yes, they were rancid when I opened them. Taught me a good lesson on keeping track of what you have and using it before it goes bad. They are marked ‘not to eat’ and are now used to fuel some lanterns outside when we have cookouts.
Many municipal water supplies are disinfected with chloramine now, not chlorine. (That's Texas law, for example.) The difference is that chlorine evaporates, while chloramine does not. It can only be removed by chemical reaction or charcoal filtration. For that reason, I avoid tap water as much as possible. But one nice thing about it in a survival situation is that, based on personal experience at least, it does not go bad.
With regards to water purification, am not just considering grid-down scenarios – am also considering solutions for events like Flint, Michigan, where boiling water isn’t practical as you’re still going about your day to day life, though you still have access to the power grid irregardless of contaminated water. Also, yes, it’s expensive to have a system like this with the grid down, but if you’re not talking budget prepping, I don’t feel spending $2500 on a quasi-permanent water purification solution for a home is unreasonable. Again – talking wishlist/big-picture prepping ideals here, not how to maximize your bang for buck with regards to prepper gear to buy. I also don’t need a $2,600 wood burning stove in my house, especially if I’ve got a fine workable one in the garage, but that doesn’t mean I can’t dream about having one.
#10 Wow, who to trust and how to meet those “truth worthy” people?? This one hit home. Due to various experiences with people from ever walk of life and every religious persuasion I’ve become a very distrusting person. So to even consider trusting someone, these days, I don’t know with the lives and safety of my family would be nothing short of a MAJOR miracle. Anyone else like me?? How do you over come that natural mistrust??
Our testers unanimously voted MH the best tasting, even going as far as to buy some to use in everyday life. Nutritionists we spoke with thought MH had the best overall nutritional value, too, with tons of meat-based proteins and fiber. It’s also the most convenient to cook. No external dishes needed, just pour some (ideally boiling) water into the pouch, let it cook, eat, then trash.
Prepper food is any food that can be stored on the shelf for a long period of time. That’s it. This does not mean that regular food is not prepper food; it just depends on how the food is packaged and stored. Any regular food can become prepper food, if it is properly packaged and stored away. So is there special prepper food? No, at least in the sense that you can turn your regular everyday food into prepper food. Here’s how.

“The answer is you probably could,” she said. Though research suggests it might cause a mild depletion of vitamin C and other antioxidant chemicals, she explained, freeze-drying fruits and vegetables doesn’t have any significant impact on their nutritional value; packaged as stand-alone ingredients, they can even make for a healthy alternative to more caloric snack foods.